AAC football realignment: Mapping out the potential new-look conference

Realignment could radically reshape AAC with major East Coast presence

The new American would likely band together most of the teams along the East Coast. Headlining the new conference would be Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State, and Navy.

These teams have regularly appeared in the Top 25 rankings and been to bowl games in recent years. These three teams have appeared in a combined 31 bowls.

Filling out the conference would be South Florida, FIU, FAU, East Carolina, Charlotte, Old Dominion, Marshall, and Temple.

Reigniting the Marshall and App State series (as a conference game) would be dynamite. These two teams played each other annually in the 1970s-1990s.

This alignment would also give us exciting new matchups. East Carolina has never played against Charlotte, according to Winspedia. The same goes for Temple vs. Old Dominion and South Florida vs. Appalachian State — never-before-seen matchups.

Since Navy doesn’t field a basketball team, they’d have to find a way to smooth that wrinkle with its new members. Simply plugging in Wichita State (which is what they do now) may not work.